Starting a new thread so I keep it separated from my others. So I recently bought a 1980 Long bed. Going to keep it pretty stock but capable, so armor, lockers, 31s and a lot of needed maintenance.

Day I brought it home

Stock engine

O wait theres a Weber under that air cleaner


My sweet block off-plates

Nice swiss-cheese bed

Made a quick Gm alternator bracket

Some nice floor rust

And some more

Painted my black grim chrome and put on my chrome headlight buckets, didn't turn out to bad.

 

So in my quest to keep things cheap and hearing good things about Treadwright tires I ordered up a set of 31x10.5x15. They came pretty quick even though they said they were back ordered. They look really good and was stoked when I opened the door to a stack of tires at my door. But upon further inspection I noticed one of the casings was alittle bit different. All four are BFG casings but one of them is 4 years older then the rest making it over 7 years old. I'm not sure if thats a huge deal since they are retreads or not. But I would have liked to have them all close to the same age, definitely putting that one on the back axle.

 

I like the tires. How much they cost w/shipping?

 

The tires were just at $500 shipped to my door.

 

They look like the old style wrangler MTRs.

 

enjoy that beauty! i like the paint job. are those graphics stock? I love my 1980 longbed its the best! welcome to the club. do you have the 20r with the 4 speed or what? i swapped my 4 speed for a 5 speed from an 83, now it has another 83's 22r as well.

 

Nice pickup!

Update us with the tires, i've been thinking of picking up a set of TreadWrights and wanted to hear some first-hand experience.

 

Yeah thats what they were modeled after.

I don't think it was a factory paint job, I thinking it could have been a dealer job though, since it was done pretty well. Yeah I had the 20r with the 4 speed, but someone changed the 4 speed out with a later 5 speed. Haven't decided if I want to change out the 20r because it runs pretty well. Maybe an 22re swap.

Yeah I'll definitely let you guys know how they do, hopefully I get them mounted up today.

 

You gonna hang on to this one?

 

What are you trying to say. Yeah I'll keep this one, thats why I am keeping it stock, will probably DD it seeing as my 318i is getting pretty rough. I might lift it just enough to clear hysteer though, haven't decided yet also my do all new OME suspension.

 

So I got the tires finally mounted, ran into a snag when doing it though, as Americas Tires refused to mount them as they were retreads. Ill post pics tonight.

 

Looks good!!!

 

With the new shoes.


So my engine sounded pretty bad kinda like it had timing chain slap, got around to checking the oil and could smell the gas in it. It was thin as water as well. Pulled the fuel pump and replaced with a newer one and put Delo 15-40 in it. Engine runs nice and smooth now.

 

So its been a bit, but I have been slowly working on the truck and it has somehow become my DD. Got RoundEyes front head lights, new vinyl flooring, replaced the timing chain, there was some crazy slack in it, and mounted up my old rear bumper. But the best is I picked up a full set of OME springs for $100 off CL.


RoundEyes


New Flooring


Old Bumper

 

Man, I'm always sucking hind teet, just bought the rears for my '81 for a whole lot more than what you got F/R's for. Is the flooring homemade or store bought to fit the cab? Good start on the DD.

 

The flooring was actually a molded kit it was around $125 with $50 shipping, had to trim it and cut all the holes though. It took me around 3 hours to get it put in and I still made a couple mistakes on it.

 

love the truck, good luck on the build. ... but those tires make my brain hurt, BFG on the side but MTR treads..... what a mind ˟˟˟˟˟˟... (i am a die hard BFG fan BTW)

 

also, make sure you pull those OME springs apart and clean them up, then paint and get new slider pads.. you will thank yoursel later.

 

looking good. i love the graphics, wish my yotas had them still.

 

So I got a work van, now that it is no longer serving as a DD I decided to make more of an expedition rig out of my truck. To start with I'm going to change out the engine as I'm only getting around 13 mpg out of the 20r on the highway. I was going to change to fuel injection to get better mileage but decided I would go with a diesel. Now the engine I decided on is the om616. I know its naturally aspirated and will be less power than the 20r, but its pretty cheap, plentiful, bullet proof, and fits like it was meant to be in a Toyota. Also its about the same power as the diesel that came in the pickups of that time and if I need a little bump in power I'll just turbo it with 5~6 pounds of boost. Hoping to come out even after selling the 20r. Here is some pics of the initial fit.







Also made a oil filter relocation bracket as the filter sticks ~ 3" behind the block and would have got in the way.